Coconut and Pistachio Pudding Cake

Reminiscent of the popular Watergate Cake, this Coconut and Pistachio Pudding Cake is not only pretty, but tasty as well! Moist and flavorful, this coconut and pistachio cake is topped with a creamy pistachio cream cheese frosting which takes it a step up from the traditional cake.

I’m not Irish. No surprise there, right. 🙂 But I, like so many other people, will use any excuse to make a recipe in the name of celebrating a holiday. Really, we shouldn’t need any excuse to make a cake, but hey – I’ll use St. Patrick’s Day as an excuse.

The thing is, though, I don’t even know what people in Ireland actually do for St. Patrick’s Day. Do they really make all of their food green in honor of the holiday? Or do they laugh at us over here in America, celebrating a holiday with leprechaun cereal and rainbow cupcakes?

I say all of this to say that I very well know that this cake has nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day. Except for the fact that it is green. And I’m totally ok with making St. Patrick’s Day my excuse for baking a cake. Because I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t make cakes nearly enough.

If you’ve heard of a Watergate Cake, this cake may look familiar. The cake portion of this recipe is very similar to a typical Watergate Cake. White cake with pistachio pudding mix, soda, eggs, and oil. Except when I went to make this cake, I realized I was out of vegetable oil. I’ve been trying to work through the food in the pantry to have less to move here in a few weeks, but that totally backfired on me when I went to make this cake. So instead of hopping in the car and running to the store, I decided to improvise. I did have coconut oil on hand, and I thought it would be a perfect substitution since there is coconut in the cake. The batter was very stiff, though, and I’m guessing the culprit was the coconut oil. But it totally worked. I just needed an offset spatula to make sure I spread the batter out evenly.

A typical Watergate Cake has a frosting made from dream whip, milk and pistachio pudding. Plus coconut and pecans. But I wanted something different. I changed up the frosting to a cream cheese based frosting, and since I didn’t add pistachios to the cake, I topped the cake with some. You guys – this frosting is so good. I honestly didn’t think I would love love it with the pudding mix, but it was amazing.

The finished cake actually turned out so much better than I had anticipated. The cake was perfectly moist with the perfect balance of pistachio and coconut. And then of course that frosting took it over the top. If you’re feeling lazy, you can change this to a 9×13-inch cake and skip the layers, but I thought this made a perfect layer cake.

So even if you’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with authentic Irish food, I’m saying it’s totally cool to add this green cake to the dessert menu!

Coconut and Pistachio Pudding Cake

Reminiscent of the popular Watergate Cake, this Coconut and Pistachio Pudding Cake is not only pretty, but tasty as well! Moist and flavorful, this coconut and pistachio cake is topped with a creamy pistachio cream cheese frosting which takes it a step up from the traditional cake.

Author:Deborah

Prep Time:65 mins

Cook Time:25 mins

Total Time:1 hour 30 minutes

Yield:16 servings

Ingredients

Cake:

1 white cake mix

1 package (3.4 oz) instant pistachio pudding mix

1 cup lemon-lime soda

3/4 cup coconut oil, melted

3 eggs

3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Frosting:

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 package (3.4 oz) instant pistachio pudding mix

1/2 cup milk

4 oz frozen whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip)

Toppings:

1/3 cup chopped pistachios

1/2 cup toasted coconut

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.Prepare 2 9-inch round cake pans.Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, lemon-lime soda, coconut oil and eggs.Beat on low speed until combined, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 more minutes.Stir in the coconut.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared baking pans.The batter will be very thick.Use an offset spatula to spread the batter evenly in the pans.

Bake until a tester inserted comes out clean, 22-25 minutes.Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, place the cream cheese in a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.Add the powdered sugar and the pudding mix.Start adding the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is thin enough to spread.Fold in the whipped topping.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a serving platter.Spread some of the frosting on the cake, then top with the second layer.Cover the cake with the remaining frosting and smooth with an offset spatula.

Press the toasted coconut to the sides of the cake, and sprinkle the top the chopped pistachios.Refrigerate until ready to serve.